Niemann
Thought I'd kick off a discussion about the Media of the Day. For the next few months it's really just filled with some of my favorite memories from my childhood, oddities I've discovered over the years from video games, and classic moments that changed video games.
Today's video is the ending of one of my favorite Sega Genesis games; the Haunting (and of course a shout out for Halloween). Not sure if many people played this game, it was a bit quirky in the controls and the learning curve is a bit steep. Anybody tackle this game?
Mucx
Never played that game... the character animation is super crazy, has some kind of extra wide John Wayne style gate.. and glides.
Niemann
There's a lot of Virtual Boy Media of the Day coming in the next few weeks. Did anyone actually own one of these? Ever have any problems with your eyes or anything?
VB had some interesting games, but I never saw any games that tempted me to actually buy one. I remember playing one in a Blockbuster and finding that all it did was give me a quick headache.
Mucx
I played one before about ten years ago when there was a History of Gaming type exhibit that was going around the UK.
They had a lot of playable stuff that you could test out.
I only had about 10 minutes on it playing Wario, but I could tell it was a serious gimmick and it was uncomfortable on the neck and arms, rather than the eyes. (hunched over squinting into a glorified view master!).
Still, there is something oddly cool (in a retro way) about the VirtualBoy. Emulating the games has been fun in the past.
menace690
I played with one at Funcoland (Loved that store, Gamestop is a poor imitation). Got about half an hour on it. No headaches. Just not fun.
Niemann
Mucx wrote:
Emulating the games has been fun in the past.
This is an interesting point in that I feel that my appreciation for Virtual Boy stems solely from emulating it as opposed to the feel of the authentic controller, atmosphere of the games / time period, and memories of my childhood. This system is probably unique in that it is almost artificially nostalgic for me.
seanstar
I got a VirtualBoy used some months ago, continuing to fill out my collection. I must say I found its popular negative reputation to be a gross overstatement. Yes, you ought to make sure it's not egregiously misadjusted, but it's not difficult to play... for that reason. The primary, and largely unavoidable difficulty with VB is that there's no good way to play it. You need a large, clear space on a table which is just the right height for the VB to be at eye-level when you're in whatever chair you're using, and yet it's a "portable" system, so it's hard to feel it's worth making an installation out of.
I can tell that the system has some decent horsepower for its day, and a few games are quite good. Warioland is a must-have, Red Alarm and Vertical Force aren't bad picks, and even the generic Mario Tennis and Galactic Pinball work surprisingly well. But with a library of 22 games- 14 to the US and 19 to Japan with some obvious overlap- there are a truly crippling number of stinkers, and more damningly, stinkers made with high-profile IP. Mario Clash and 3D Tetris take the gameplay you would expect from the title and do it wrong, Panic Bomber sounds great up to the title screen, after which you realize it's not at all Bomberman and not a particularly good falling-pieces puzzle either. Waterworld is apparently rare and expensive... but I have rarely played a more lackluster movie IP game. Bowling, Boxing, Baseball and Golf round out the sports offerings, but I must say none have sounded interesting enough to compel me to put the cartridge in the system and actually try them. Haven't spotted Jack Bros. yet or I'd likely have tried it.
Now, speaking from experience, I can say it is legitimately tricky to find a game mechanic that makes such good use of 3D that it wouldn't work in 2D, and if VB had been allowed more time on the market, there may have been some better games, but a library that's on the order of 30% deadweight with only a couple gems isn't going to sustain any system very long.
seanstar
Now, the Tiger game.com, on the other hand... *shudder* Irrefutable proof that if there is a sweet and merciful god, He doesn't consider consumer electronics to be His problem.
Squishy Tia
seanstar wrote:
Now, the Tiger game.com, on the other hand... *shudder* Irrefutable proof that if there is a sweet and merciful god, He doesn't consider consumer electronics to be His problem.
I'll call your game.com and raise you one Nokia N-Gage.
Niemann
I'll go all in with the Apple Pippin. I mean, wow.
seanstar
I dunno... I think I'm keeping my money on the Game.Com for the moment. Sonic Jam was just... too traumatic for words. And I'm a proud masochist when it comes to this sort of thing... It's one thing to make a crap system nobody notices. It's another to get prime IP and kill the death out of it in ways that no screenshot would ever adequately convey...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFR-rzOb8NA
And take my word for it, that guy is making every effort to play normally.
Bonus points if you can recognize the BGM.
And resting my case, N-Gage had Sonic Advance... more or less... and Pippin had Marathon. Sonic Jam is, to my knowledge, cream-of-the-crop on G.C.
Niemann
Oh please, you mean to tell me that laggy controls, slow screen refresh, a screen no better than my side bed alarm clock from 1991, terrible sound, and poorly constructed case compares to how horrible the Pipping was? Oh, okay....you win.
Mucx
Its like comparing which pile of cow dung has the darker shade of brown :p
HDL
Mucx wrote:
Its like comparing which pile of cow dung has the darker shade of brown :p
Strangely, this makes me wonder which of the two would be the lesser of the poisons...
MetalDragon
Todays media of the day:
Populous
Tazmania
Tazmania
Tazmania
:whistle:
Niemann
Weird bug. Fixed. Guess you know what tomorrow's is. On a plus note, Tazmania was a crazy fun game. Eating kiwi birds...yum.
seanstar
HDL wrote:
Mucx wrote:
Its like comparing which pile of cow dung has the darker shade of brown :p
Strangely, this makes me wonder which of the two would be the lesser of the poisons...
Well, I do collect. If anyone has a Pippin or N-Gage with at least one of the "better" games for each, hit me- Once I get more than the G.C I could to a proper review :)
Niemann
I'm sort of amazed that we have not see an Escape Velocity like game for iOS. Am I missing something? That game was great. I've heard Galaxy on Fire compared to it, but frankly the 2D graphics of Escape Velocity were simple and fun. A nice combination of Gratuitous Space Battles and Escape Velocity would be excellent. Who's interested?
Squishy Tia
I miss EV. I want to get it running in a Classic emulator so I can enjoy the Babylon 5 mod for it again.
Niemann
I totally forgot about the mods, I had a Star Wars one which was just awesome. I remember finally get the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer, man that was fun.